System and Method for Remotely Administering and Synchronizing a Clustered Group of Access Control Panels

1. A system comprising: a device providing a human interface to a user; a plurality of remotely located access control panels of a security system; a respective card reader attached to each of at least some of the plurality of control panels; control logic of each of the plurality of remotely located access control panels, each panel of the plurality of remotely located access control panels defines a device that receives and processes an access request from the respective card reader and grants or denies access to a home or business by at least opening a door based upon the request, the card reader and panel opening the door when a valid access card credential is presented to the card reader; each panel of the plurality of remotely located access panels has panel configuration database that contains all of the configuration data needed by the access control panel to perform the intended access control functions of the panel, the panel configuration database has a common object and a local object, wherein the common object defines configuration data for access control that is common to all of the panels and the local object defines configuration data for access control that is local to the panel; wherein a format of cards read by the respective card reader defines at least some of the configuration data of the common object of the plurality of remotely located access control panels and a configuration of the respective card reader defines at least some of the configuration data of the local object of the at least some remotely located access control panels; and one of the plurality of remotely located access control panels providing a gateway to at least one other of the plurality of remotely located access control panels, the gateway comprising: a communications interface; a web server; and a gateway configuration database; wherein said device that provides the human interface receives an update to the common object of the plurality of access control panels from the user and submits the update to said web server, said gateway updates said gateway configuration database using said submitted update and said web server transmits said submitted update to the panel configuration database of each of the plurality of access control panels, said transmission, at least in part, using said communications interface.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said transmission is in binary access protocol format.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said device is one of a browser and a host.

4. A system comprising a device providing a human interface for a user; a plurality of remotely located access control panels of a security system; a respective card reader attached to each of the plurality of remotely located access control panels; control logic of each of the plurality of remotely located access control panels, each panel of the plurality of remotely located access control panels defines a device that receives and processes an access request from the respective card reader and grants or denies access to a home or business by at least opening a door based upon the request, the card reader and panel opening the door when a valid access card credential is presented to the card reader; each access control panel of the plurality of remotely located access control panels has a panel configuration database that contains all of the configuration data needed by the access control panel to perform the intended access control functions of the panel, the panel configuration database having a common object and a local object, wherein the common object defines configuration data for access control that is common to all of the access control panels and the local object defines configuration data for access control that is local to the access control panel, wherein a format of cards read by the card reader defines at least some of the configuration data of the common object of the plurality of remotely located access control panels and a configuration of the respective card reader defines at least some of the configuration data of the local object of the at least some remotely located access control panels; and one of the plurality of remotely located access control panels providing a gateway comprising: a communications interface; a web server; and a gateway configuration database having said common object; wherein said device providing the human interface receives an update to the common object of at least one other panel of the plurality of remotely located access control panels through the human interface from the user and submits the update for said common object, said gateway updates said common object in said gateway configuration database using said submitted update and said web server transmits said submitted update to said common object of said panel configuration database of the at least one other panel, said transmission, at least in part, using said communications interface.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein said transmission is in binary access protocol format.

6. The system according to claim 4 , wherein said device is one of a browser and a host.

7. A system comprising: a device providing a human interface for a user; a plurality of remotely located access control panels of a security system; a respective card reader attached to each of at least some of the plurality of remotely located access control panels; control logic of each of the plurality of remotely located access control panels, each panel of the plurality of remotely located access control panel defines a device that receives and processes an access request from the respective card reader and grants or denies access to a home or business by at least opening a door based upon the request, the card reader and panel opening the door when a valid access card credential is presented to the card reader; each access control panel of the plurality of remotely located access control panels has a panel configuration database that contains all of the configuration data needed by the access control panel to perform the intended access control functions of the panel, the panel has a common object and a local object, wherein the common object defines configuration data for access control that is common to all of the access control panels and the local object defines configuration data for access control that is local to the access control panel, wherein a format of cards read by the card reader defines at least some of the configuration data of the common object of the plurality of remotely located access control nodes and a configuration of the respective card reader defines at least some of the configuration data of the local object of the at least some remotely located access control nodes; and a gateway comprising: a communications interface; a web server; and a gateway configuration database; wherein said device receives a request to create an access control panel through the human interface from the user and submits the request to said web server, said gateway updates said gateway configuration database creating said access control panel and said web server creates a access control panel configuration database within said requested access control panel.

8. A method for administering and synchronizing a clustered group of remotely located access control panels of a security system, said method comprising: defining each access control panel of the clustered group of remotely located access control panels of the security system as a device that receives and processes an access request and grants or denies access to a home or business based upon the request; storing configuration data common to all of the clustered group of remotely located access control panels in a database of each panel of the clustered group of remotely located access control panels and administering the configuration data as a common object where the stored configuration data of the database contains all of the configuration data needed by the access control panel to perform the intended access control functions; a respective card reader attached to each of at least some of the plurality of remotely located access control panels, the card reader and access control panel opening a door when a valid access card credential is presented to the card reader, wherein a format of cards read by the card reader defines at least some of the configuration data of the common object of the plurality of remotely located access control panels and a configuration of the respective card reader defines at least some of the configuration data of the local object of the at least some of the remotely located access control panels; providing a human interface to the clustered group of remotely located access control panels of the security system that receives an access control update from a user; submitting the access control update from the user through the human interface to a gateway for updating the configuration database of a access control panel having a local object of the configuration database, said gateway having a configuration database; transmitting said submitted access control update to said access control panel; and updating said local object of said configuration database of said access control panel.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein said update for said node is submitted from one of a host and a browser.

10. The method according to claim 8 , wherein said transmitting is in binary access protocol format.

11. The method according to claim 8 , wherein said gateway further comprises a web server for transmitting said update for said node.